Investing.com – U.S. futures pointed to a lower opening bell on Friday as investors prepare for the jobs report later in the day and wait for news from the White House on possible trade tariffs against China.
The S&P 500 futures fell 3 points or 0.12% to 2,875.50 as of 6:50 AM ET (10:50 GMT) while Dow futures dipped 38 points, or 0.15%, to 25,987.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures decreased 12 points, or 0.17%, to 7,444.75.
The August employment report is released at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT), with forecasts for the creation of 191,000 jobs. A solid uptake in employment is likely to increase expectations that the Federal Reserve will increase rates at its next meeting September 25-26.
Investors are also waiting for news of U.S. tariffs on another $200 billion worth of Chinese goods that could go into effect today. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants to impose tariffs between 10% and 25% immediately following the conclusion of a public comment period which ended on Thursday. Chinese officials said the country would retaliate if the new tariffs are imposed.
Chip maker Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) was among the top gainers in pre-market trading, jumping 4.16% after its earnings beat estimates. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) inched up 0.13% after the European Union approved its purchase of music discovery app Shazam on Thursday.
Elsewhere General Electric (NYSE:GE) fell 0.48% after UBS cut its price forecast, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) slumped 1.32% and medical marijuana firm Tilray Inc (NASDAQ:TLRY) was down 5.12%.
In Europe stocks were down. Germany’s DAX fell 31 points, or 0.26%, while in France the CAC 40 was down 6 points, or 0.13%, and in London the FTSE 100 decreased 34 points, or 0.47%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost 11 points, or 0.34%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 slumped 50 points, or 0.54%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.17% to $1,206.30 a troy ounce while crude oil futures was flat at $67.77 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.07% to 94.92.